The objective of this exploratory, participant observation study is to examine the work experience of the deinstitutionalized mentally ill over time and to seek out ways in which job characteristics, symptoms, and social relationships interact with one another to effect the course of recovery from psychiatric disorder and reintegration into the community. Field work was carried out with residents of halfway houses, participants in community-based psychosocial and transitional work programs, and with "unattached" deinstitutionalized men and women.